Just Like the Changing Seasons
by Gamma Orionis
Summary: A romance changes from month to month, just as the weather does. Written for astronauts' Twelve Months of Love Challenge on the HPFC forum.
1. January

Author's Notes: Written for astronauts' Twelve Months of Love Challenge. Drabble-y, oneshot-y things for every month in a year of romance.

Narcissa/Remus Lupin

)O(

The first time Narcissa Black met Remus Lupin, he had come to the Manor looking for Sirius.

It was the latter part of winter vacation, she remembered, and she had been the only one home at Black Manor, everyone else having gone out to some New Year's Day party. Narcissa had lied and said she didn't feel well, and therefore been allowed to stay home, and she was startled when she heard a knock.

She dragged herself off the couch, where she had been playing with Andromeda's pet kitten, and opened the door.

If she hadn't done that, everything might have turned out differently.

There was a boy standing on the sidewalk, hugging himself, teeth chattering against the bitter cold. The first thing she noticed about him was that his clothing was ragged. The second was that his eyes, visible over the top of a sloppily knit scarf pulled around his face, were the kindest, softest, gentlest eyes she had ever seen in her life.

"Can I help you?" she asked politely, wondering who on earth this boy was, but knowing it was her duty to be polite and cordial, as would become a Pureblood.

He pulled the scarf down around his neck so he could speak to her.

"Does Sirius Black live here?" he asked, very politely. "I'm a friend of his, from school."

"He's out," Narcissa said, utterly captivated by this boy's appearance. His face looked older than his size – or his age, assuming he was in Sirius's year – should have allowed, and there were several pale scars on it. "Won't you come in?"

"I wouldn't want to impose…"

"It wouldn't be imposing," she assured him, opening the door wider so he could step inside. "Do come down to the kitchen, I believe the house-elves have some soup prepared. There's nothing quite like hot soup on a cold day, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, miss," he said politely, looking down at his rather dirty boots.

Narcissa indicated a mat to wipe them on. "Do call me Narcissa. Or Cissa, if you prefer. I'm Sirius's cousin."

"Remus," he said, extending a gloved hand to shake hers. "Remus Lupin."

"A pleasure to meet you," she said, meaning it wholeheartedly. She led him into the kitchen, and snapped her fingers at the house elves, who immediately set to ladling soup into mugs. Narcissa sat down at the table, and Remus followed suit, sipping the soup tentatively.

"So," she said, trying to make conversation, "you're my cousin's friend? I assume you're in his year at school?"

"That's right," Remus said.

Narcissa floundered for subjects. "Do you… do you play Quidditch?"

"I took flying lessons in first year. It didn't suit me." He smiled almost apologetically, though what he had to be apologetic about was beyond Narcissa. "I don't like sports much."

"Neither do I," Narcissa said immediately. "I'd far rather be sitting reading a book or talking to someone than flying around on a broomstick in all sorts of weather."

Remus chuckled, and Narcissa felt herself relaxing slightly. It was nice to be able to talk without worrying about whoever you were talking to being scandalized – a constant hazard in the Pureblood world. Even with her sisters, Narcissa had to be careful what to say, at the risk of being scoffed at by Bellatrix or chastised by Andromeda.

"Do you like the soup?" she asked him.

"Yes, it's lovely. I don't think I've tasted something this good since the Hogwarts food."

And on it went, meandering conversation that had no real purpose – Narcissa couldn't even remember what they had talked about when she looked back on it – but that was comfortable and relaxed.

All too soon, the return of the rest of the family was heralded by the sound of a door banging open upstairs, and Bellatrix and Sirius shouting at each other. Remus jumped at the noise, and looked nervously up.

There was a crash, and the sound of glass breaking. Narcissa winced.

"Er, I should probably come back another day," Remus said, standing up and edging towards the back door. "Pleasure to meet you, Narcissa."

Narcissa nodded, and pulled the door open, and Remus was out the door in an instant, sprinting through the shallow snow to get as far away from the screaming match upstairs as possible. Narcissa shut the door and leaned back on it, pondering.

It felt as though, if only for a few minutes, she had escaped from the confines of the Black household, and seen something more. Remus Lupin dazzled her, he blinded her with his mere presence.

But she had failed to keep him.

Thus her obsession with Remus Lupin began.


	2. February

On Valentine's Day, when Narcissa's parents told her that her betrothal to Lucius Malfoy had been finalized, she cried.

It was that night that she confessed to her sisters – Andromeda, her friend, her confidante, and Bellatrix, her protector, her keeper – that she loved Remus Lupin. She insisted that to marry another would be disloyal.

Her sisters disagreed.

"Narcissa," Andromeda said, "are you out of your mind? You scarcely know him! It would not be betraying him to marry someone Mother wants you to marry. If you were actually in some sort of relationship, I might agree, but this…"

"I love him!" Narcissa insisted. She believed that with all her heart. As weeks had passed since her one interaction with Remus Lupin, as she had gone over it again and again, and every time she repeated it in her mind, she became more enamoured of the boy.

"No you don't! This is just obsession on your part! Don't you realize how absurd this is?"

"You don't understand!" Narcissa wailed. Andromeda didn't understand at all. But then, how could she be expected to understand when Narcissa couldn't even begin to understand it herself?

Bellatrix was even less sympathetic. She rose into a fury when Narcissa told her about Remus. As far as Bellatrix was concerned, that both his parents were wizards was hardly enough to compensate for his crime of being Sirius's friend.

"It's wrong! Don't you ever speak to him again," Bellatrix ordered. "You'll bring disgrace to our entire family."

Narcissa's lip wobbled and she tried not to show how much it stung her that her sisters were just dismissing her love for dear Remus Lupin.

"And," Bellatrix added, "don't even _think_ about _touching_ him. You'll never get married if you do. One touch could ruin your whole future. Never forget, Cissy, that even a mother bird will abandon her young if a human touches it."

Narcissa had retired to bed in tears. Should she be a bird, then? A little bird, hidden always in the nest its parents built for it? She would far rather be a bird taken in by a kind human, who kept her warm and safe, but also on beautiful display, who would allow her to shine.

This, she convinced herself, was what Remus would do when – not if, when – she married him.

She ignored her sisters' advice. They knew nothing. This love – for she was certain, absolutely certain, that this could be nothing but love – was something Narcissa would have to cope with on her own.

In her journal, Narcissa solemnly marked Valentine's Day with a vow that she would marry Remus, and signed it with a heart drawn in her own blood.


End file.
